Saturday, May 2, 2009

Swine flu of the brain

“I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals” (Sir Winston Churchill)

Largely in keeping with one passage in Leviticus, in a rather ironic twist if I do say so myself, The Jews consider them ‘unclean’ (proving the adage persecution is normally a two-way street)

In ancient Greece, they were associated with dirt and evil spirits.

The eating of Pork is also forbidden in Islam.

In-fact the dietary prohibition of the Torah is pre-Israelite in origin, for abstinence from the meat of the pig was a widespread, religiously motivated custom that was historically well grounded amongst the Phoenicians, the Cypriots, the Syrians, the Arabs, and in fact among all Semitic peoples – long before Jesus and Mohammed made their alleged appearances.

The Seventh Day Adventists also see them as unclean & they weren’t founded till 1863.

Rastifarians, have been about less than a hundred years, and they’ve adopted this hatred as well.

I don’t know about you – but I’m rather partial to bacon, more so when encased in bread.

I don't know about religious reasons, but pigs are the perfect bridge for a virus to go from animal to human. Most of what happened in Mexico had to do with a huge pig farm where I'm sure the pigs were stacked like dominos and not properly kept.

Over crowding in such places is a haven for viruses to breed in (and mutate) and since pigs are quite similar to us, they can transmit disease to us. If you keep a pig clean and healthy and are careful when handling them, you are probably safe but if you look at places where those conditions aren’t met, you end up with a big problem.

I think most of the problems with the bird flu are like this. The overcrowding of birds in chicken farms and the like, are just a disaster waiting to happen. The more we treat animals like an assembly line, the worse off we are.

I personally LOVE pigs, I collect pig memorabilia and I find them to be wonderful animals. You have to keep them properly though. They are not a good pet for instance because unlike a dog, a pig is smart and will get what it wants, when it wants it. This is why most “pet” pigs end up in sanctuaries. I would love to have a pet pig, but I wouldn’t have one unless I had lots of land and could keep them clean and happy.

If pigs are kept well then I see no reason not to eat them. I find it very sad when they are not kept well and can't at least enjoy a little bit of life before they meet my tummy.